Time estimates for CD & DVD backups.

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IanA
Posts: 66
Joined: Fri May 13, 2005 11:35 am

Time estimates for CD & DVD backups.

Post by IanA »

I'm doing more and more DVD backups and even at 16x speed they take about 1 hour per DVD (including writing and testing). I believe that the time to complete that is shown at the bottom of the screen is for the complete set of DVDs (including writing and testing).

I think it would be a great improvement if there was also a time estimate for the next DVD changeover. Obviously I don't sit at the computer screen for hours whilst it does the DVD backups, so I have to interupt whatever I'm doing on a regular basis to see if it's finished. In reality, I'm either checking it every few minutes or I wait far too long resulting in the jobs taking hours longer than they should.

The only indications of when it will finish the current DVD are the vague milestones of starting and finishing the write process. I have tried to estimate it during the testing phase by looking at how many zip files there are on the DVD and trying to calculate what proportion have been tested - yawn!

It gets even harder to estimate when adding to a part used DVD - Is it likely to need another DVD and when?

It seems a relatively easy estimate for the computer to perform (after all it makes very reasonable estimates of the total time) and it would make the backup process so much easier.

Hope you agree and are able to action this.

Thanks for listening,

Ian
IanA
Posts: 66
Joined: Fri May 13, 2005 11:35 am

Another possibilty for DVD changeovers...

Post by IanA »

Could there be an option to play a sound when a DVD and/or backup is completed.

Perhaps it could have the options to play once and to play repeatedly until action is taken , then with the volume turned up... sorted!

Thanks

Ian
Barry
Site Admin
Posts: 1529
Joined: Tue Aug 20, 2002 3:16 pm

Audible warnings

Post by Barry »

The timing issue is very hit and miss in any case as the throughput rate varies according to how easy it is to compress a file as well as the other processes running on the machine. I am not entirely happy with the countdown as the test phase is usually quicker than the backup phase (unless file compare is switched on). However, I have noticed that not many count down timers are particularly accurate and the best we can say is “It’s a count down, when it reaches zero the job has finished”.

The audible alarm system is a possible work around, except you may have to be careful not to upset any body else in the office If AISBackup is shouting “Change the bloody disc” at high volume and your PC is locked you may upset a colleague or two. And on the subject of the actual message or sound – would you supply your own? In any case I do not know anyone who can announce “Change the disc” as well as the man who says “Mind the gap” on London Underground – what a boring job that must be :lol:

The solution I use is having a second writer pre-loaded with a blank disc, this is automatically picked up and used by AISBackup which then gives you a longer window within to change the finished disc.

Barry
IanA
Posts: 66
Joined: Fri May 13, 2005 11:35 am

More thoughts on the subject of disc changeovers

Post by IanA »

Despite the inaccuracies of countdown timers, I still appreciate them because my own estimates are usually far more inaccurate!

I did wonder if a sound should be user supplied. I can't quite decide my preference on that, but providing your own sound would take more effort and presumably the user wouldn't then have anyone but themselves to blame if they set the office PC to play Iron Maiden at full blast!

I wish I lived in the world of "I've got a spare DVD writer on my PC" !!

I did have another idea for this, like your spare DVD writer, it would give a longer window to change the DVD but might have some adverse side effects...
Why does it need to check the DVD in the writer way before the files are even prepared? - Could it not wait until it starts to write - that way it can get on with preparing the next batch of files, giving the user up to 30 mins to swap the disc?

On the subject of inserting a new disc - it always says insert a blank disc and I think it would if it said what that disc will be called e.g. "Insert blank media that will be used to create MyBakup-05". Because of the long waiting times I've usually labelled my DVDs before they go in the drive, so it would be good to have it confirmed that I'm putting the right disc in.

Hope these ideas are of interest.

Thanks for your response,

Ian
Barry
Site Admin
Posts: 1529
Joined: Tue Aug 20, 2002 3:16 pm

Named blank disc

Post by Barry »

Build 290 has one of your requests, i.e. the name of the next blank disc.


http://www.aiscl.co.uk/aisbackup_beta.htm


Barry
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